Fire victims tell governor they're still waiting, and hurting, at Las Vegas town hall

May 2—LAS VEGAS, N.M. — On Thursday evening, people who live around the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire burn scar gathered to tell Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham about the hardships their communities are facing: devastating floods, threats to the mountains' watersheds, suicides, divorces, substance abuse, and stress-related illnesses.

Some are still living in trailers or with friends after losing their homes. Many who lost their homes in the largest-ever wildfire in New Mexico history are still waiting to be reimbursed two years later.

Lujan Grisham held a town hall meeting Thursday evening at New Mexico Highlands University, inviting residents from the many mountain communities that were impacted by the fire to ask questions and make suggestions about the response from local, state and federal government. She was joined by representatives from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including Ben Krakauer, the current interim director of the Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon Fire claims office.

Many criticized the agency's slow pace of approving and sending out reimbursement for damage from the fires.

Krakauer said the pace of payments has increased. At the end of 2023, the agency had issued 238 letters of determination for Hermits Peak/Calf Canyon fire claims, he said, but the most recent number of letters issued was 1,350. The number of claims the agency has received for the fires jumped from 3,200 at the end of the year to around 12,000 now. Krakauer said the claims office has pushed about $550 million out the door.

But several people who lost everything in the fire said they were still waiting. Many received compensation for smoke damage earlier this year, which some saw as a strategic way for the agency to push money out to claimants amid pressure from public officials and the media.

"FEMA is putting out more money, but it's all for smoke damage," one woman said. "It makes them look good, but everyone who lost everything still isn't getting paid."

She turned to face the room and asked, "Has anybody heard of anybody getting compensation for rebuilding?" Several in the crowd murmured, "no."

Meg Sandoval said she had "fallen through every crack that there is" after her family's ranch burned.

Sandoval's father is 94 years old, she said, and "he is convinced that he will die before anything happens" with their reimbursement claim.

"There is no reason on earth that people who lost the roof over their head were not attended to first," Sandoval said.

A Las Vegas realtor said she had seen property sellers holding on to houses just long enough to get about $40,000 in reimbursement for smoke damage from the agency before selling them without making any repairs.

Krakauer said "total loss claims are number one on our list," drawing scoffs and glares from a few around the room.

Laura Silva, a retired social worker, addressed Lujan Grisham directly, asking why the government was letting disabled and elderly people suffer homelessness in the wake of the fire.

"We've got elderly people living in travel trailers," Silva said. "They're living with their children or homeless because they can't get their money to rebuild."

"This is exactly why we are having this meeting," Lujan Grisham replied. "Not to pat anyone on the back."

"I know this has been miserable," Lujan Grisham continued, adding that waiting for two years was "completely unfair."

"We've got a better operation at both the federal level and at the state level for FEMA, and I think we're feeling good about that," Lujan Grisham said. "That does not mean everyone is getting everything that they need, nor that the system does not have its own imperfections that need attention."

Many residents in the burn scar have filed lawsuits against the federal agency in recent months, alleging FEMA has failed in its duty to administer claims. Some have also challenged the agency's policy against reimbursing for "noneconomic damages," saying the trauma and stress of the fire and its aftermath wore heavily on the communities, with widespread post-traumatic stress disorder and stress-related illnesses.

Several residents said state and federal recovery efforts to fix acequias and prevent floods have been inadequate and that flooding sirens don't work.

"Everyone says they're going to make us whole, but there is no such thing as making us whole," said Sarah Huber. "Our hearts have been ripped out. ... We're all still in survival mode — we're exhausted."